Alcala 1958

A Book By MSGR . JO HN L. ST ORM, LL.D . President, College for Me n . , .

W HE N we int rod uce the wor d "ju dgm en t"into our conver­ sat ion , we are ref err ing to one of the mo st pre val ent hum an ac tiv itie sof our pre sen t wor ld. In­ de ed it see ms to ha ve been su ch for all the cen tur iesof recorde dciv ili za tio n.Th ere is jud gment of one ind ivi du alby ano ther, of gro up by groups , jud gment by cit ize ns of the law and the go ve rn ingan d the gov ern ­ ment. Th ere is als o ano the r typ e of jud gin g, tha t wh ich per tai ns to the ar ts: mu sic , pa int ing ,drama an d lite rat ure . Lit era ry judgment is ba sed first upo n est abl ish edstandards of our cul tur al trad i­ tio n and inh eritan ce ;and sec ondly upo n per son al pr inc ipl es tha t are dev eloped by the ind ivi du aljud ge. From these pos tul ate s let us pro cee d to the sub ject at ha nd . 1 We are all pro duc tsof We ster nEur ope an civ iliz ati on . This civ ili za tio n is ou r her itage. It is the tou chstone by wh ich we me asu re an d jud ge the wor th of all th ings tan gib le an d intan gib lein pa st and pre sen tcul ture. Ou r pr inc ipl esof lite rar y jud gment ha ve des cended from Pl ato and Ar isto tle, been tran spor tedto Rom e thr oug hLo ng inu s and Ho rac e an d commu nic ate d to moder n Europ e thr oug hSp enser an d Bo ile au ,Vol­ tair e, Goe the and Eck erm ann .Eng landhas not been wit hou t itscon trib uto rs.Am on gits 1 Th is arti cle is based on a lect ure deliv ered by Mons ignor Storm on April 19, 1958 , befor e the Sch olia Club , a loca l learn ed soc iety of 24 lead ers of various prof essio ns. Th e club was foun ded in 1904. r uce ent" - i , ing le t i ities t l . - . ies d tion. i ual b , , e t i ns ing - . other type gi g, i t ins ts: si , i ting, ure. ry lished s al i- it ce; a dly al i iples l ed i ual . lates j . We are all products of Western European ation. This tion itage. i re i gs i le gible resent . Our principles of literary judg e t i t tle, t s ted e h i us and e nicated to modern e h s , - e, an . l d t its i utors. g I i l Monsignor torm on April 19, 1958, b fore the l , l ns. f n

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gre ate stare Al ex ande rPo pe ,Samuel John­ son , Wo rdswor th, Co ler idg e, De Qu inc ey, Newm an, Ru skin and Mat thew Arnold . Th ese Engli shm enhave give n sig nif ica nt ly an d mater ial ly to the Am eri can lite rar y sc en eon bot h its cre ati veand cri tic alsid es. Am ongthe mo st ac tiv emodernass ayi stsof lite rat ure are Am os N. Wi lde r,T . S. Elio t, Ste phenSp ende r,Va n Wy ck Brooks, Lionel Tr illi ng , Rob ert Pe nn Wa rren, Cleanth Bro oks and Ma lco lm Cow ley. Si nce it is be yondour aim and ou r lim it of time ton igh t to dea l wit h chr onologic al list s of cr iti cs an d the ir res pec tiv e prin ­ cip les , let us go on to our ma jor task of ar riv ing at a set of val ues by which we can rea dily id en tif ya good book. We ma y be gin our quest for the good in lite rat ure by a set of genera lstandard s. Le Ma itre op en sthe vist a for us by decla r­ in g, "Let us lov e the boo ks that ple ase us. " 2 So it is that we deem a book wor thwhile if it ma kes an imp res sion on ou r noble r sen ses . We also inc lin e toward s a given pie ce of pro se or poe try if it happ ens to be acc ep tedby exp ert aut hor itie s. An d the an aly ticmi nd tak esa ste p fur the r andgiv es its nod to a boo k on ly aft er dis sec tin gand we igh ingthe ob jec tiv eva lue s of wha t is rea d. Ra the r ann oy ing but true (fo rwh o wan ts to be na ile d to a de fin ite ag e gr ou p? )is the fac t tha t ea ch level of ma tur ity and 2 Mor ceau xCh ois is. , s rth, idge, i cey, an, i t . es s en h ic ntly ial y ican y e o tive ti al g ti e ists re s r, . t, en er, , l il ing, ren, l l l . i i t l o ol i al i ics tive - l , ri ing il tify i od in re l ards. - , e 2 t hile res ion s . li e s piece of prose or poetry if it happens to be acce ted t rities. analytic mind takes a step further and gives l ting i ing j tive s . r an oying u ts b nailed to a definite p?) ity 2 a x isis.

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